The process had reached its peak.
Still, the chamber around them showed no signs of easing up.
The golden light that had once shone brightly beneath the platform started to fade away, making way for a menacing red glow. One by one, the runes changed color until the entire setup looked like it was flowing with blood. The warmth that had kept Shawn alive disappeared, replaced by a bone-chilling cold that seeped into him.
He took a shaky breath.
This wasn't over.
The nightmare had simply taken a different form.
"The vessel is now stable," Boulder said in that calm voice of his. "Move forward."
Morgan nodded slightly.
"Initiate the second process."
With that command, the attendants sprang into action.
Some of them refilled the crystal tanks lining the walls, while others adjusted the numerous valves connected to the strange tendrils. The hum in the chamber deepened, vibrating so strongly that Shawn could feel the floor shake beneath him.
Nobody dared to utter a word.
All eyes were fixed on the platform.
The tendrils rooted in Shawn's body suddenly twitched.
Then, they divided.
Half of them remained inside him.
The others twisted through the air, inching their way toward Morgan.
They coiled around his forearms and pierced his palms without spilling a single drop of blood.
Remarkably, Morgan didn't flinch.
A soft blue light began to glow from his hands.
Shawn could hardly focus his thoughts.
His body felt alien to him.
Every breath was painful.
Every heartbeat thudded painfully in his ears.
He was completely in the dark about what was happening.
He couldn't see them.
He couldn't even lift his head.
The only thing anchoring him to reality was the occasional warmth pulsing from the platform.
He was fed up.
Never before had he wanted to lose consciousness so badly.
Just…
Let him get away, even if just for a moment.
"Activate the blood array."
Morgan's voice shattered the tense silence.
The attendants jumped to work.
The crimson runes became more vibrant.
A suffocating metallic scent filled the chamber.
Blood.
Boulder moved closer.
New black gloves appeared on his hands as the old ones disintegrated into dust.
He placed one hand gently on Shawn's forehead and the other above his heart.
His fingers traced complex seals.
Invisible ripples surged through Shawn's body.
At first…
There was nothing.
Then...
An indescribable pain shot through him.
It wasn't burning or breaking.
It felt like something deep within him was being grasped and slowly torn apart by unseen hands.
"Agh...!"
Shawn's entire body thrashed against the restraints.
The tendrils attached to his head darkened.
Moments later, streams of crimson blood began to flow through them.
Instead of falling to the ground, the blood rushed toward Morgan.
As it reached his glowing palms, it changed course.
It spiraled around the blue light before returning through another set of tendrils and flowing back into Shawn's chest.
A flawless cycle.
Boulder remained focused, never taking his eyes off Shawn.
"Steady."
Morgan adjusted the flow slightly.
"Good."
Shawn clenched his teeth so hard that he tasted blood.
His heart raced uncontrollably.
Every beat sent waves of pain coursing through pathways he didn't even know existed.
He attempted to move.
Nothing.
The restraints held him in place.
He couldn't even curl his fingers.
"…Bastards… let me go."
The words slipped out between labored breaths.
Morgan heard him but didn't respond.
He was now fixed on the runes shifting beneath the platform.
One symbol glitched.
Morgan narrowed his eyes.
"The western array is unstable."
A servant rushed in that direction.
Before he could intervene....
"Leave it."
Boulder's voice remained steady, his gaze unwavering.
"It will stabilize on its own."
The servant stepped back immediately.
Silence returned.
Only the hum of the chamber broke the stillness.
Minutes dragged by.
The tanks lining the walls slowly emptied.
New fluids filled them.
The tendrils kept moving blood back and forth in an endless rhythm.
Sweat trickled down a servant's forehead.
Another's hands shook as he kept an eye on the arrays.
No one wanted to be the reason for failure.
Not today.
Shawn's breathing became more shallow.
He lost track of where the pain was coming from.
His heart? His veins? His head?
Everything blurred together into one unyielding wave of suffering.
Darkness began to close in on him.
Please…
Just this once…
He reached for it.
Right before he slipped away....
The platform reacted.
Golden light surged back up.
His dwindling awareness was yanked back to the surface.
His eyes shot open.
"No…"
His voice cracked.
"…not again…"
The pain came rushing back with him.
For just a second…
He hated the golden light even more than he hated Morgan.
It wouldn't let him escape.
It wouldn't let him die.
Morgan monitored the readings etched into the runes.
"His circulation is stable."
Boulder nodded ever so slightly.
"So is his will."
Shawn could barely grasp their words.
Fragments of thoughts floated through the chaos in his mind.
Mom… Not yet… Not before… Morgan.
Whatever they were making him into… whatever monster they hoped to create… it didn't matter.
One day… that same monster would stand before Morgan.
And when that day came....
He would make him pay.
The circulation continued.
Then...
One of the tendrils suddenly jolted.
Morgan frowned.
"I didn't change the flow."
Neither had Boulder.
For the first time since it all began, both men locked their eyes on a single point.
The runes beneath Shawn blazed with violent flickers.
The blood moving through the tendrils shook.
Something inside Shawn's body…
…had shifted.
Then...
A crack echoed.
It wasn't the sound of breaking bone.
The chamber fell silent.
Morgan's expression changed for the first time.
"…Grandmaster?" he said softly.